1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a card socket that allows insertion and ejection of a card, such as an IC card and a magnetic card, and more particularly to a card socket that is capable of inhibiting insertion of a card having a smaller size than a predetermined size.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A card socket is used, for example, as a card connector for connecting an IC card to electronic equipment, a component part of a magnetic card reader/writer, etc.
A conventional card socket includes a housing and erroneous card insertion-preventing means.
The housing has a card insertion port and a card-receiving space for receiving a card inserted through the card insertion port.
The erroneous card insertion-preventing means is a device that allows a card to be inserted to the inner part of the card-receiving space when the card has a predetermined thickness, and prevents a card from being inserted to the inner part of the card-receiving space when the card has a smaller thickness than the predetermined thickness.
The erroneous card insertion-preventing means is comprised of a plurality of members, and inhibits insertion of a card having a smaller thickness than the predetermined thickness (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 9-35021).
In the above publication, the erroneous card insertion-preventing means is comprised of a sensor lever having a sensing piece and a pressing piece, and a shutter lever having a contact piece and a shutter piece.
In this example, an IC card having the predetermined thickness is inserted through the card insertion port to have its leading end pass by the sensing piece of the sensor lever, the sensor lever pivotally moves through a predetermined angle and presses the contact piece of the shutter lever by the pressing piece thereof to cause the shutter piece of the shutter lever to be retracted from a card insertion path to allow the advance of the IC card into a card-receiving space. On the other hand, when an object having a smaller thickness than the predetermined thickness is inserted, the pressing piece of the sensor lever is not brought into contact with the contact piece of the shutter lever, and hence the shutter piece stays in the card passage to block the advance of the inserted object into the card-receiving space.
However, the construction of the erroneous card insertion-preventing means of the conventional card socket is complicated as described above, which is liable to cause malfunction. Further, the erroneous card insertion-preventing means is susceptible to failure, and what is worse, the manufacturing cost thereof is high.
It is an object of the invention to provide a card socket which is capable of preventing erroneous insertion of a card having a smaller size than a predetermined size by a simplified construction.
To attain the above object, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a card socket comprising:
a housing having a card insertion port and a card-receiving space that receives a card inserted through the card insertion port;
an elastic member that is arranged on a card insertion path extending from the card insertion port to an inner end of the card-receiving space, for being brought into contact with the card on condition that the card has a predetermined size, to thereby undergo elastic deformation such that the elastic member is pushed out of the card insertion path; and
a stopper that is coupled to the elastic member, and arranged on the card insertion path, for being pushed out of the card insertion path in accordance with the elastic deformation of the elastic member to allow the advance of the card when the card has the predetermined size, and for remaining on the card insertion path to block the advance of the card when the card has a size smaller than the predetermined size.
According to this card socket, it is possible to prevent erroneous insertion of a card having a size smaller than a predetermined size, by a simpler construction than the conventional card socket.
Preferably, the housing includes an elastic member-receiving recess for receiving the elastic member that has undergone the elastic deformation to be pushed out of the card insertion path, and a stopper-receiving recess for receiving the stopper that has been pushed out of the card insertion path in accordance with the elastic deformation of the elastic member.
More preferably, the card socket further comprises a fixing member that is integrally formed with the elastic member, for fixing the elastic member to a front end of the housing at a location out of the card insertion path, and the elastic member is arranged such that the elastic member extends obliquely from the fixing member into the card insertion path when the elastic member has not undergone the elastic deformation, the stopper being integrally formed with the elastic member at an opposite side to the fixing member with respect to a card-inserting direction.
Further preferably, the stopper vertically projects from at least one of two lateral sides of the elastic member, and the stopper-receiving recess comprises at lest one cutout formed in a manner associated with the stopper such that the at least one cutout each divides a corresponding one of keys provided at inner lateral walls of the housing, whereby the card socket prevents insertion of the card when the card has a thickness smaller than a thickness of the predetermined size.
Further preferably, the elastic member comprises a pair of elastic members extending in the form of a strip along immediately inward of inner lateral walls of the housing, and the stopper extends laterally such that the stopper connects the pair of elastic members, the stopper-receiving recess being laterally formed in an inner bottom of the housing in association with the stopper, whereby the card socket prevents insertion of the card when the card has a width smaller than a width of the predetermined size.
Further preferably, the elastic member comprises a pair of elastic members extending in the form of a strip along inner lateral walls of the housing, and the stopper comprises a first stopper vertically projecting from at least one of two lateral sides of the elastic member, and a second stopper extending laterally such that the second stopper connects the pair of elastic members, the stopper-receiving recess comprising at lest one cutout formed in association with the first stopper such that the at least one cutout each divides a corresponding one of keys provided at the inner lateral walls, and a lateral recess laterally formed in an inner bottom of the housing in association with the second stopper, whereby the card socket prevents insertion of the card when the card has a thickness smaller than a thickness of the predetermined size or a width smaller than a width of the predetermined size.
To attain the above object, according to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a card socket including a housing having a card insertion port and a card-receiving space that receives a card inserted through the card insertion port, and erroneous card insertion-preventing means that when the card has a predetermined thickness, allows insertion of the card to an inner end of the card-receiving space, and when the card has a thickness smaller than the predetermined thickness, prevents insertion of the card toward the inner end of the card-receiving space,
wherein the erroneous card insertion-preventing means comprises:
a fixed portion fixed to the housing;
an elastic portion coupled to the fixed portion, for being elastically deformed when a card having the predetermined thickness is inserted through the card insertion port, to be pushed out of a card insertion path extending from the card insertion port to the inner end of the card-receiving space, and for not being elastically deformed when a card having a thickness smaller than the predetermined thickness is inserted through the card insertion port, to remain on the card insertion path; and
a stopper coupled to the elastic portion, for being moved out of the card insertion path when the elastic portion is pushed out of the card insertion path, to thereby allow the advance of the card having the predetermined thickness, and for remaining on the card insertion path when the elastic portion is not pushed out of the card insertion path, to thereby block the advance of the card having the thickness smaller than the predetermined thickness.
According to this card socket, the erroneous card insertion-preventing means is comprised of the fixed portion, the elastic portion coupled to the fixed portion, and the stopper coupled to the elastic portion, and these portions are integrally formed with each other. Therefore, it is possible to prevent erroneous insertion of a card having a thickness smaller than the predetermined thickness by the erroneous card insertion-preventing means having a simpler construction than the conventional erroneous card insertion-preventing means.
To attain the above object, according to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a card socket including a housing having a card insertion port and a card-receiving space that receives a card inserted through the card insertion port, and erroneous card insertion-preventing means that when the card has a predetermined width, allows insertion of the card to an inner end of the card-receiving space, and when the card has a width smaller than the predetermined width, prevents insertion of the card toward the inner end of the card-receiving space,
wherein the erroneous card insertion-preventing means comprises:
a fixed portion fixed to the housing;
an elastic portion coupled to the fixed portion, for being elastically deformed when a card having the predetermined width is inserted through the card insertion port, to be pushed out of a card insertion path extending from the card insertion port to the inner end of the card-receiving space, and for not being elastically deformed when a card having a width smaller than the predetermined width is inserted through the card insertion port, to remain on the card insertion path; and
a stopper coupled to the elastic portion, for being moved out of the card insertion path when the elastic portion is pushed out of the card insertion path, to thereby allow the advance of the card having the predetermined width, and for remaining on the card insertion path when the elastic portion is not pushed out of the card insertion path, to thereby block the advance of the card having the width smaller than the predetermined width.
According to this card socket, it is possible to prevent erroneous insertion of a card having a width smaller than the predetermined width by the erroneous card insertion-preventing means having a simpler construction than the conventional erroneous card insertion-preventing means.
To attain the above object, according to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a card socket including a housing having a card insertion port and a card-receiving space that receives a card inserted through the card insertion port, and erroneous card insertion-preventing means that when the card has a predetermined thickness and a predetermined width, allows insertion of the card to an inner end of the card-receiving space, and when the card has a thickness smaller than the predetermined thickness or a width smaller than the predetermined width, prevents insertion of the card toward the inner end of the card-receiving space,
wherein the erroneous card insertion-preventing means comprises:
a fixed portion fixed to the housing;
an elastic portion coupled to the fixed portion, for being elastically deformed when a card having the predetermined thickness and the predetermined width is inserted through the card insertion port, to be pushed out of a card insertion path extending from the card insertion port to the inner end of the card-receiving space, and for not being elastically deformed when a card having a thickness smaller than the predetermined thickness or a width smaller than the predetermined width is inserted through the card insertion port, to remain on the card insertion path; and
a stopper coupled to the elastic portion, for being moved out of the card insertion path when the elastic portion is pushed out of the card insertion path, to thereby allow the advance of the card having the predetermined thickness and width, and for remaining on the card insertion path when the elastic portion is not pushed out of the card insertion path, to thereby block the advance of the card having the thickness smaller than the predetermined thickness or the width smaller than the predetermined width.
According to this card socket, it is possible to prevent erroneous insertion of a card having a thickness smaller than the predetermined thickness or a card having a width smaller than the predetermined width by the erroneous card insertion-preventing means having a simpler construction than the conventional erroneous card insertion-preventing means.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.